A Little Downtime
by AdmHawthorne
Summary: Follow up to "A Little More" What happens in the week after their confessions to each other? Rizzles. Cowritten with Googlemouth.
1. Chapter 1

**This for our continuing series. Googlemouth and I are having a blast writing these stories out. This one follows after "A Little More". We do have plans to continue this series.**

**The characters are not ours. They belong to the very talented Tess and the powers that be over at Turner (aka TNT).**

**Reviews make us happy and keep us writing. ;-)**

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><p>Sunday had been far too eventful. The Boston PD detectives, led by Detective Jane Rizzoli, had caught the dog park killer with the assistance of their medical examiner. That wasn't unusual. The unusual part was that, rather than utilizing her primary skill set as a forensic pathologist, Dr. Maura Isles had instead used her familiarity with the dog park, Jane's dog, and knowledge of other dog walkers to go undercover and draw out the killer. She was his type: an adult female Caucasian, alone, attractive, with either no dog or a non-threatening dog, who smiled at him instead of ignoring him when he spoke to her. She had expected to be required to take Joe for a morning jog for several mornings, but as it turned out, the killer had taken a shine to Maura right away and targeted her.<p>

As it happened, that turned out to be a mistake for him.

Before Jane and the other detectives could get there to stop him from choking her to unconsciousness and then beating her to death, Maura had fought him off in almost exactly the set of maneuvers she had learned in self-defense class. She'd cracked his nose with the heel of her hand, elbowed his solar plexus, poked a thumb into one of his eyes, kicked his kneecap out of alignment, reset the stones in his collection of family jewels, and had her food on his neck, pinning him to the ground, by the time Jane had rounded the stand of trees and drew her weapon on the assailant-turned-punching-bag. She had clung to Jane, looking wild-eyed and fragile, while Jane's fellow detectives looked after the perp. Their perp. Maura's perp, her first and hopefully her last collar. He had gotten in his licks too, of course, putting his handprint-shaped bruise around her throat and finger marks on her arm, but Maura had definitely gotten the best of him. He wasn't used to women who fought back.

Monday had been spent filling out reports, and, for Jane, questioning the perp to within an inch of his sanity. Then both detective and undercover doctor had made their excuses to the detectives, each one claiming correctly to be exhausted, and had gone home. Jane's home, where the detective's dog, now a veteran of this undercover work, waited for company and comfort. Maura's African spurred tortoise would be fed, as he often was, by her housekeeper; she'd never actually been certain that Bass cared whether she was there or not, as long as the food came at regular intervals. Tortoises were fascinating creatures, but though they appreciated routine, their brains were decidedly non-mammalian in the sense of forming actual emotional attachments to their primary humans. So the women headed to Jane's place. Once well away from the police precinct, they paused at a traffic light, looked at each other, and sighed. One hand reached for another. They maintained contact all the way to Jane's apartment. It had been hard to do their jobs when what they wanted was to hold and support one another.

Their evening settled quickly. Jane ordered a pizza, they prepared for bed, and they ate their food while watching the evening news, per Maura's request. Jane would have preferred to watch the cartoon channel.

"Why are we watching this crap?" The detective motioned toward the screen with the piece of pizza in her hand. "We already know what they're going to say. We were there. I get that the news is important, but, when you tend to be in it a lot, it kind just seems… I don't know… repetitive." She took another bite of her slice as her face pulled into a frown. _I want to watch cartoons._

Maura brought a bottle of beer and a tall glass of water to the table, arranged coasters for each, and settled in next to Jane. Already she had arranged her plate, fork, and napkin on the coffee table. She had gone far enough towards meeting Jane halfway, just by eating on the couch like a heathen (as the Isles parental units would have phrased it). "If your name is mentioned on the news," she said with a Socratic air of teaching through questioning rather than through giving answers, "will your mother pick up the phone and call you?"

"Yeah, probably. She always does," Jane answered around bites of pizza. _ Like, every single freaking time. _"It's getting kind of old, though. Between our normal collars and Ho… well, things, I seem to get mentioned a lot. You'd think Boston would have better things to report on than what we're doing in homicide. I mean, murders happen all the time. I, for one, would like to know what's going on with the new season of baseball." She shrugged, finished her slice of pizza and wiping her hands on the paper towel Maura had insisted on giving her.

"My parents are home this month," Maura replied, glancing towards the cellphone she'd set on the side table nearest her end of the couch. "They never fail to watch the local news, listen to the radio, and read the papers wherever they are. It helps them acclimate. I'd like to know what they're seeing and hearing." That explained the stop-off at the news stand earlier, where she had asked for _anything with my picture on the front, please_, and the two Boston news rags that rested beneath the pizza box. So, it hadn't been just vanity, wanting to see what pictures of herself the Boston PD had given to the press.

"I didn't know that." Jane tossed the paper towel on her coffee table. "If you need to go spend some time with them this weekend, I understand. I know they're not in town much." The detective's gaze settled on watching the woman next to her. _She's pretty even when she's eating pizza with a knife and fork. I wonder if she'd be mad if I moved her plate from her lap? I wonder what she tastes like mixed with peperoni? I wonder when I started wondering how Maura tasted? Oh, right, about forever ago. I really just want to… I just want her._ Jane's eyes focused on the movement of Maura's hands as they cut the pizza, her breathing growing less and less steady as she quietly waited for Maura's response to her offer.

Maura approached her pizza almost the way she approached a whole pan-seared fish, though she used a different style of knife: she severed the connection between the crust and the rest of the slice in a neat, curved line, moving the crust to the outer edge of the plate before continuing. "I might need to speak with them." She lifted away _exactly_half of the pepperoni slices, as delicately as an ophthalmologist might remove a damaged cornea from an eye, a mental image that Jane could probably have done without. "It all depends." She stacked the pepperoni slices together, then transferred them back to the box, knowing that Jane would eat them. "If they want to see me, they'll call."

The television had played the story of the Dog Park Killer and those who had caught him as their first story for the night, showing images of the police detective who had arranged for the operation and made the collar alongside the medical examiner who had crossed the line from pathologist to undercover agent and been targeted by him in the sting, while also announcing both their names. Earlier, the radio had run the story. At least two of Boston's local papers had run the story on the first page, and a few more had run it further inside.

Maura's cellphone had remained silent.

_Yeah, I'm going to have to move that plate._ Not bothering to ask, Jane picked up the plate and move it. Eyes dark and piercing, she took the utensils and set them with plate on the coffee table. _Her parents suck. My phone is __ringing__. Don't care. Maura first. Parents later… much later._ Leaning forward, effectively pinning the smaller woman to the sofa, the detective kissed her soundly. "I'm very proud of you, Maura. What you did this week was brave. I know you're waiting for them to call, but, if they don't, forget them. _I_ think you're awesome, and," she laid another kiss on her girlfriends soft, inviting lips, "peperoni tastes amazing on you."

There was a distinct lack of protest, despite the fact that Maura had only had one bite of pizza thus far. So easily did she succumb to anything Jane wanted enough to ask for it. "I did feel quite powerful," she admitted between kisses as she let herself be laid back and softly trapped by the body of her girlfriend. "Even though I could feel the physiological effects of fear, I also felt very strong and capable. I thought for a moment that that must be what you feel like almost all the time."

"I'm scared shitless most of the time," Jane admitted as she nuzzled against Maura's neck before lightly nipping the sensitive skin there. "Putting them away makes me feel like that." _Crap, she hasn't eaten yet. Not cool, Rizzoli. _Reluctantly, she sat back, releasing her hold. "Sorry. I'm going to go sit over there… at the end of the couch …and leave you alone so you can eat."

Puzzlement and clear disappointment lighted on Maura's facial features for a moment as she continued to lie where, and as, Jane had put her and then left her. Then she sat back up, neatened her clothing a bit, and then picked up her plate.

Jane gave her best apologetic face as she scooted back. _Oh, this isn't going to work._ "You know, maybe I should just go in the other room? I should probably call Ma anyway. She's called 3 times now." Chewing her bottom lip, she let her eyes roam over the small, curvaceous frame of her girlfriend. _Oh man, it's physically painful not to touch her. What the hell? I'm never like this. _"Yeah, let me just go do that." She made a move to stand.

Maura nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She understood Jane's departure, once it was explained, but that didn't mean she would not have gladly delayed dinner until the pizza was cold just to get more of that touch, more of Jane's body pressing down on hers. The pathologist shifted slightly in her seat. "All right," she agreed, though with clear reluctance. "You're right. You should do that. Give her my best... Or, no, don't. I suppose it's better if she doesn't know I'm here." She shifted again, relieving some postural pressure, and cut herself another forkful of pizza.

"Yeah," with a rather ungraceful stumble over the arm of the sofa, Jane staggered into her bedroom. _Smooth__._"God, why am I so awkward?" She rolled her eyes as she picked up her phone and returned the calls from her mother. "Hi, Ma."

"_**Jane! You and Maura were on the news." Angela's voice was full of pride.**_

"Yeah, I know. I saw it on tv."

"_**And in the papers. I'm so proud of both you."**_

_I love my mother. I love my mother. I love my mother._ "Thanks, Ma. Listen, I called you about Sunday."

"_**Oh, can you bring the bread? Your father forgot to pick some up at the store today."**_

"Yeah, about that. I can't go. Something's come up, and I really need to take care of it. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"_**What do you mean something's come up?"**_ Angela's voice had gone from pride to anger quicker than most teenagers go from sad to happy.

"I'm really sorry, Ma, but I really need to do this thing. It's nothing bad, and I'll be at dinner next Sunday. Hey, if you want, we can grab lunch or something next week." _She's never going to be okay with this._

"_**Jane, you give me one good reason why you can't come to Sunday dinner."**_

_I'll be with Maura._ "I might be out of town."

"_**Out of town? Where?"**_

"Um," _Crap,_ "New York?"

"_**Why would**__** you**__** be in New York?"**_

"There's this… work thing that I have to go to. You know, it's just some stuff I have to learn about."

"_**About what?"**_

_Of course she'd ask. _"About… me. It's one of those 'know yourself so you can do better at things' thing. What's it called? A workshop!" _That's it…good, Jane. Good._

"_**Oh. Well, do you need us to watch Joe?"**_

"No, Maura's got it." _Bad, Jane. Bad._

"_**That's nice of her. I guess if it's a work thing, then I can't be mad. But, you owe me lunch. Be careful this weekend."**_

"Yeah, I will." _Close one. _"Talk to you next week."

"_**Okay, love you, Janie."**_

"Love you, too, Ma." Jane ended the call and let out a sigh. _Maura's not going to like me lying. Maybe she'll forgive me__,__ considering? Maybe I can find a way to keep her from thinking about it? Maybe._ With a sigh, she made her way back into the living room. "Hey, I just got off the phone with Ma."

"I heard," Maura replied, halfway through her pizza, with another bite on the way to her mouth. She looked a bit... reserved. "When did you know you were going to New York this weekend?" _Our weekend_.

"We're going to New York? That wasn't the plan." Caught off guard, Jane simply stood by the sofa trying to figure out where she missed the disconnect. "The plan was to stay home and have a weekend to ourselves. Don't tell me there really _is_ a workshop?" _I'll burn crap to the ground. Seriously, I will. I need this weekend with Maura._

Confusion spread all around, like the light from sparklers on the Fourth of July, scary to be touched by, before experience teaches their essential harmlessness. "You just told your mother that you were going to a workshop... Oh." Pause. "_Oh_. So, that was... You're not...?"

"I lied." Jane held her hands up, palms forward in a gesture to stave off Maura's objections. "Before you say something, just remember that we're keeping this," she motioned between them, "under wraps, and the only way I could get out of going to Sunday dinner was to tell Ma I was out of town. So, I lied. It's just a little white lie, and I did promise to make it up to her. Please don't be mad," she dropped her hands, frowning slightly. "I just… didn't want to share you this weekend."

It was wrong to lie. Maura knew it was wrong. She hated doing it. "You're telling me," she began as she put down her fork, "that you told your mother," she stood up, "a baldfaced lie," and put down her folded napkin on the table, "so that she would leave you alone," walked towards Jane, "for an entire weekend," stood right up close, and for once _didn't_ bring her hands to touch Jane, just let her body come to rest about an inch away from that of her detective, "so that we could be together?"

"Y-yes," Jane swallowed hard, eyes flicking nervously from the woman before her and anywhere else. "But, it was only a little white lie." Her face was a mixture of fear, arousal, and confusion. _What is she doing? _"Please don't be too mad, Maura. If it bothers you too much, I can call her back. I… I don't want you to be mad and this ruin our weekend."

Slowly, Maura shook her head. "I ought to be angry," she acknowledged quietly, lifting up on tiptoes to press the upper portion of her cheek to the lower portion of Jane's jawline, "but I think I'm not. I think I'm... going to clean up from dinner, while you walk Joe. I'm thinking we might want to call it an early night. Unless you're still hungry."

_I'm hungry, alright. _"If I didn't know any better," Jane quipped as she turned to place a gentle kiss on the side of the doctor's head, "I'd say you just set me up with that comment." Maura smiled. Shameless. Jane chuckled, pulled away to grab the collar by the door. "We'll be back in a few. Don't get kidnapped or anything while I'm gone, okay?" Hearing the jingle of the lease, Joe bounded for Jane and stopped just short of running into her owner's legs. "Okay, Joe, hold on." Jane bent over to hook the leash on the black leather dog collar. "New collar? When did you go shopping without me?" The detective glanced over at the honey blonde who was now working on putting dinner away. "Okay, fashionista, let's go." Dog and owner left, closing the door behind them.

Maura finished her slice of pizza rather more quickly than she'd eaten the first half of it, then made short work of tidying the kitchen and living room. Halfway through the job, she smiled to herself as she realized her own comfort in Jane's home. She knew where everything went, how the somewhat complicated dishwasher worked. Having been over on laundry day a few times, she even knew how Jane liked her clothes sorted and washed, and so she put in a load to wash, knowing Jane wouldn't remember until she was down to one wearable outfit, and would then complain that she didn't have time to do the wash. _I'll dry them when we get up in the morning_, she promised herself, then headed into the bedroom.

Immediately, she headed back out again. It was one thing to make free with Jane's kitchen and even laundry, another to take over her best friend's bed as if it was her own. She could wait until Jane led her in there. Maura chose to lie on the couch, stretching out in what she hoped was a blatant invitation to join her there, unless Jane really did want to go straight to bed. _I really don't care which_, Maura surprised herself to realize. _As long as she's touching me. I love it when she touches me._

"That's the last time I let you play with the big dogs," Jane chastised as she walked through the front door. "I mean, come on, Joe, he was just being friendly. You didn't have to slice his ear open." She bent over to unhook the collar as the little dog gave one bark in response to her comment. "Yeah, yeah… he's not your type. I get it. Still, I don't know where you get this aggressive streak from." She turned, hung the collar up, and locked the front door. "Go on. I'm going to find," she turned again, her eyes landing on Maura, lying on the sofa, "Maura," she squeaked out.

_Okay, that's it. I'm done with this game._ Shaking herself to regain her composure, Jane closed the distance, holding her hand out for Maura to take. "Come on."

Maura smiled even before her eyes opened from her brief period of meditation and sat up, taking Jane's hand even though she didn't need it to get up. "Bed?" she asked hopefully, though it was about an hour and a half before the time she usually went to bed, and she suspected strongly that when she wasn't there, Jane stayed up much later. They weren't quite to the point of being ready to have sexual relations, not yet, but perhaps a little light making out before they went to sleep…

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><p>"Jane." Frost's voice echoed through the somewhat empty bullpen area as he tried to get his partner's attention. Jane, for her part was absentmindedly drumming her pencil as she stared at her computer screen. "<em>Jane."<em> He called out a little louder, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. She'd been squirmy and fidgety since she came in, and the drumming, pacing, and squirming were start to wear thin on Frost's nerves. "Oh. My. God. _**JANE!**_"

_Huh? _"What?" She stopped drumming and turned her chair around to see what had Frost so irritated.

"You _have_ to stop. You've been drumming and fidgeting and… you just have to stop. You're driving me crazy. Did you have 4 cups of coffee before you came in this morning, or what?" Frost ran a hand over his tired looking features.

"Oh, sorry," Jane clasped her hands together and set them in her lap. _Maura's driving me crazy. This morning, with that thing she did to my ear…oh my God… I can't even…_

"_**Jane**_, come on, what is up with you today?"

"My bad, Frost. I'm just… a little distracted. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." She blushed remembering the makeout session that lasted until midnight. "Maybe I should go walk around or something?"

"Maybe you should." Frost nodded, scowling at her. "And don't drink any coffee. God, that's all you need is more reasons to be jittery." He shook his head. "Hey, how is it that, if you didn't get a lot of sleep, you're this wired? Seriously, how many cups of coffee have you had?"

"One." Jane motioned to the cup on her desk behind her.

"Then how…Man, I don't even want to know." He held his hand up. "So, you taking a walk or what?"

"I don't really have anywhere to go." She shrugged, turning back to her desk. "Maybe I'll play on Twitter or something?"

"Go to the morgue and bother Dr. Isles or something." Frost was clearly ready for his partner to take a break.

"Go see Maura? Oh, um," _No… no way I could keep my hands off of her. That would not end well._

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><p>Dr. Isles was easy on the eyes, the best at her job, and not bad as an employer - maybe a bit perfunctory, but hey, not every boss could be everybody's buddy or gruff-but-kindly mentor - but did she have to <em>hum<em> while digging around in what was left of a human being? Did she have to _smile_ as she fished around the body of a teenager caught in gang crossfire? Did she have to walk around with a little spring in her step like she had new gel insoles in her shoes, _in a morgue_with actual, relatively fresh bodies behind every door against that wall?

She was creepy, decided the lab intern as he accepted the little tray of bullet fragments from her to take back to the lab. No wonder they called her Queen of the Dead. Even the other medical examiners were a little bit unable to connect with her; one of them, in fact, had originated the nickname.

Maura hummed bits and snatches of some classical violin concerto, not that anyone recognized it. While she could carry a tune, singing was not one of her talents. _Good thing singing wasn't necessary last night,_ she thought, and her smile warmed as she sewed up the incisions she had made in that unfortunate teenager's chest. _At least __**that**__ activity plays to my strengths. __It__ plays to Jane's __strengths__, too. I love the way she holds me. Love the way she looks at me. _

_What__ am I doing?_ She looked down at a perfectly finished seam, realized she had completed it, and tied off the thread. _So sleepy. So worth it._

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><p><em>Lunch time. Okay, I can't take it anymore. I'm going down there.<em> "Lunch, I'll be back in a few." Jane stood, grabbed her jacket, keys, and cell, and headed for the door.

"You and Dr. Isles going anywhere interesting?" Frost asked, not bothering to look up from his computer screen.

_Am I really that predictable? Geeze._ "Don't know yet. Why? You want something?"

"Yeah, if you go to Jake's, grab me some cheese fries. I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it. If we go, I'll get some." She waved as she left.


	2. Chapter 2

_There she is._ The dark haired detective walked through the morgue's double doors, and her eyes immediately fell on the chief medical examiner who was stitching up a body and humming to herself. _Is she humming? _"Hey, lunch?"

The humming stopped, almost exactly on cue, as Maura closed the drawer on the sewn-up teenager, and she whirled around like a woman in a musical wearing a flowing dress that would spread out like a flower around her, instead of just turning like a woman in a form-fitting linen skirt and a lab coat. "Yes," she said with a brilliant smile, pushing herself off the stainless steel cabinet wall and lightly skipping towards Jane. She stopped up short, however, as she spotted a familiar figure following Jane into her morgue. "Hello, Vince. Did you come about the Thompkins report?"

_Damn it._ Jane turned around, stepping back to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the doctor. "Korsak, what's up?"

"Hey, yeah, I came down here to drop off this paperwork and see if you had anything else back from the lab." He handed the folder over. "You two going to lunch?"

"About to. Frost wants me to pick up some cheese fries if we go to Jake's. You want something?" Jane's voice was welcoming, but her eyes said 'don't keep us long'.

Interestingly, so did Maura's. There must be some girl-thing they needed to discuss. Right, girls' club, no boys allowed. Korsak got it.

"Jake's?" Korsak took a brief second to glance from one woman to the other. "Yeah, if you go there, pick me up a cheeseburger, the usual."

"Yeah, we can do that, if we go there." Jane lifted her arm and quickly dropped it. _Wrapping my arm around my girlfriend's waist = good. Wrapping my arm around the chief medical examiner's waist = bad. _"You ready, Maura?"

"I'm ready," replied the smaller woman as she shucked her scrub gown and walked towards the hamper near the door to her office. She ducked inside and returned with her purse slung over her shoulder, pausing in the doorway long enough to ask, "What? Do I have something on my dress?"

Vince was staring at Maura's cleavage almost as openly as he'd done when she was on surveillance at the lesbian bar where she and Jane had gone undercover, though she hadn't seen his face at that time. As much as he'd stared when she had Skyped him from the marathon in her running togs. Maura hurriedly checked the front of her dress for stains, spills, any soak-through from the lab coat. She saw nothing, but still looked worried. "Jane, is there something on me that I can't see?"

"No, but there's about be something coming at Korsak if he doesn't stop it," Jane replied as she stepped closer to her ex-partner. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah," the older detective's eyes flicked from the doctor to the very threatening woman next to him. "I should… I should probably get back up to my desk," he turned around. "Make sure Frost doesn't mess anything up. Later." He scurried out, not looking back.

"Man, I can't believe him." Jane walked over to where Maura still stood in her office's door frame. "Hey, can I get you look at something real quick?" She asked lightly as she stepped into the medical examiner's office.

Agreeably, Maura followed Jane back into her office. "What do you want me to see?" she asked, quickly moving from Totally Enamored Girlfriend to Professional Pathologist. "I know the Thompkins report was a little convoluted, but with so many things that _could_ have been cause of death..."

Jane closed the door before pushing Maura against the wall as she planted a heated kiss on the lips she'd been thinking about all day. _Mmm…. Lunch._

Maura emitted a squeal as the thin veil of professionalism ripped under that kiss, which she couldn't allow to remain one-sided for even a full second. _Mmm... Lunch._ This could nourish her for the rest of the day, certainly. "Jane," she whispered, throat suddenly dry. "Jane," with her hands sneaking up Jane's back, beneath the blazer she wore. "Jane," as she pulled the woman closer to her, letting herself be pressed, pinned, pushed against the wall. "Window. In the door. Jane. _Jane_." But her attempt at struggle was token, at best, and she wouldn't be the first one to actually stop this dangerous moment, not even in her stronghold, her office, with her employees regularly coming and going. If Jane was serious about wanting to keep their relationship private, she'd have to find the strength to do it herself; Maura had none, just now.

_Windows are crap. _A growl of frustration rolling from her throat, the detective pulled away. She stepped back to put distance between them so they could regain some control. "I've been thinking about that all morning," she whispered as she wiped a hand across her mouth. "I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be this hard, you know?" She sighed, pulling herself together. _But, we'll see each other tonight at her place. I can handle it until then. I'm good. I'm awesome. I'm… I'm going to attack her again if we don't go soon._ "We should… we should… you know, go get lunch. Where do you want to go?" She leaned against the desk, closing her eyes. "Open the door before I do something stupid… please."

Maura let out a sigh of... what she wished was relief as Jane removed the immediate source of brain-block and allowed her to think. "Wow. Um... Wow. Yes." Quickly, before she could rush back and take Jane in her arms, claim her right up against her desk, she opened the door behind her with clumsy hands and backed out. "Lunch. Jake's? Let's get out of here." _Lead me not into temptation_, her mind quoted from the prayer she had memorized in childhood, _and right now, being shut in any semi-private place with Jane is temptation. I may go mad._


	3. Chapter 3

Wednesday morning, Jane strolled into the office wearing something decidedly un-Jane-like. The suit was lovely, a perfect fit. The black pin stripe perfectly highlighted her athletic frame, and the white button down shirt with the tall, stiff, well pressed collar made her look more like a lawyer than a detective. With the top two buttons unbuttoned, the look was softer than it otherwise would have been. However, it was clear Jane had not dressed herself that morning.

"You got a date or something later?" Korsak asked as soon as Jane walked into the squad room.

"Shut up, Korsak," she spat back as she turned her computer on and waited for it to boot.

"What? If you don't have a date and I know you don't have a court appearance today, why are you so dressed up?" He narrowed his eyes, waiting to see what kind of excuse she'd give her.

"This was what was available for me to wear this morning, okay?" _As in__,__ Maura has done something with the clothes that are normally at her place and replaced all my __suits__ with stuff like this._ "You know, I do have nice stuff. I just don't wear it around here. Who wants to get blood stains on the good stuff?" She rolled her eyes, turning to face her computer screen. _I told her people would notice if I wore this, but, no. She insisted that the collar was the only thing that would cover the bite mark. Man, this sucks. I feel like monkey._ "Maybe you should try looking decent for a change?"

"I think Vince looks very suited to his work," came a soft, feminine voice as Maura Isles stepped lightly into the bullpen. "Ooh, but _you_look just stunning today. I like that suit on you. Big plans later?" she asked, all open honesty, hardly any teasing tone at all. She, too, looked quite well done-up, but that wasn't abnormal for her. Few people ever asked the Doc if she had plans. They couldn't tell a difference between her day-to-evening look and her 'ordinary' work look.

She hopped up onto Barry Frost's desk, facing Jane's, and crossed her legs just as the junior detective himself strode into the office with this morning's supply of better-than-precinct coffee. "Jeez," he muttered, nearly dropping the tray at the sight of Maura's legs, followed by Jane's unaccustomed, rather hot look. _She's my partner, she's my partner, she's one of the guys_, he repeated in his head. "Hot date tonight, Rizzoli?"

"Man, why does everyone keep asking me that? I wear _one_ nice suit, and it's all, 'Hey, Rizzoli, you got a date?' You guys are worse than my mother." Jane stood, walking to meet Frost at his desk, her eyes slipping between looking at Frost and trying to not look at Maura's legs. _God, this woman. _"You got my coffee or what?" She leaned against her partner's desk, settling beside the medical examiner, placing her hands on the edge on either side which, she noted as she glanced down, didn't cause the bite mark to show but did cause her shirt to open in a way she was pretty sure Maura would like. _Two can play this game._

And the game was on. Maura's eyes flicked once, just once, towards the shirt opening. _Evil_, she thought with a little burst of affectionate respect. "Maybe if you wore nice suits every day, no one would notice anything different when you did have a date," she suggested idly, shifting her posture slightly. _I shouldn't have looked._ She looked again, just the briefest of glances. _Drat, I did it again._ _I know she did that on purpose. _She uncrossed her legs, then recrossed in the other direction. _All right, let's see you top that._

Vince cleared his throat.

Frost stood still, as if afraid the slightest movement would cause the scene in front of him to disappear.

"Oh, I bet you think you're funny, don't you?" Jane's eyes flicked to the leg crossing next to her. _I see what you're doing there, Dr. Isles. Man, I wonder what kind of tan line you have? Probably __none__, knowing you._ "I don't understand why everyone is so interested in my nonexistent love life anyway." She scoot back onto the top of Frost's desk, crossing her legs at the knee to reveal the heels she had borrowed out of Maura's closet as she leaned back further to accentuate her long, lean torso. With a toss of her head to casually flip her hair, she rolled her eyes.

"No, I don't think I'm funny. I'm aware that I lack a full understanding of humor. I tend to take things too literally and too seriously to actually be funny, although I did have a friend in college who was funny. She called me her unintentional straight-man." Maura stretched her back a little, causing her spine to elongate and then arch even as she lifted the hair off her neck and fanned with the other hand, an attempt at cooling down. For that long moment, she looked like nothing so much as a pin-up girl. "Did you borrow my shoes? They look good on you. You should wear them on your date tonight."

Barry quickly sat down at his desk.

Hopping down from her partner's desk, Jane turned around to face both Frost and Maura. "I don't have a date. Enough of that, okay?" Placing one foot slightly in front of the other, she leaned her weight on her back foot as she pushed her suit's jacket to the side and hooked her thumbs into the top of her belt. "Yeah, I figured they'd go with this suit. You okay with that? You normally don't mind." She gave her best smirk, lowering her eyelashes just smidge.

Vince Korsak coughed.

_If she keeps standing like that and looking like that, I really will bend her over __her__ desk_, Maura thought, and for a moment the thought showed clearly on her face. Her tongue snuck out to lick her lips, an unconscious invitation she hadn't meant to issue at work. Fortunately, Barry and Vince were still watching Jane, so they missed it entirely. "I don't mind," she replied, sliding down off the desk, "but I'm glad you don't have a date. I was thinking we should do something tonight, if you weren't busy. Girls' night," she remembered the phrase. "Though, perhaps drinks at the Dirty Robber first... Barry, Vince, would you like to come, too?" _Why did I just say that? I don't want to spend the night with them. Boys are icky. Oh, I remember - I don't want them to know that I only want to be with Jane._

Jane unhooked her thumbs and leaned over Frost's desk, brushing past Maura, to retrieve her coffee. "Mine," she growled in a lower-than-normal, husky voice just as she grabbed her cup. Standing, she took a thoughtful sip as she waited for either of the men to respond. After a few very quiet seconds, she smirked, raising an eyebrow as she answered, "I'm too dressed up for the Robber. What about Mi Cocina? It's that high-end Mexican place downtown. I've wanted to go there for a couple of weeks." She glanced from the junior detective trying to remember to breathe to the senior detective trying not to drool. _Mental note for later. I'm totally using this against them when they least expect it._ "You guys interested?" She resumed her previous position, though she kept one hand held out to hold her cup of coffee. "Frost?"

"Uh… what?" He blinked rapidly.

"Mi Cocina? Tonight? After work?" Jane snorted, clearly amused, as she quickly glanced at the medical examiner to see if she saw what Jane saw was going on with the men.

"Mi Cocina? Uh… n-no, no," he shook his head, "Mexican food and I don't get along. You two have fun. Thanks though." He swallowed hard.

"Korsak?" Jane shifted slightly to address the older detective.

"Nah, I got a meeting with my bowling team tonight. You know Wednesday's league night." He was clearly flushed.

Maura thought over the suggestion as she idly straightened the supplies on Frost's desk, with particular attention to getting all his pens and pencils facing down in their container. Though it looked casual, by now at least one person in the room besides herself knew that almost any time it happened that Maura touched something without a definite, practical reason, it was almost always for the sole purpose of drawing attention - either to her beautifully manicured hands, to the object itself, or to some intrinsic quality of the object. Barry Frost wasn't the one who knew that, but still, his attention seemed to be on the long, thin writing implements. His dark skin turned slightly richer in tone. He made a point of looking away. The bouncy-haired doctor smiled then and started walking, another thing she did that sometimes drew attention.

"You know," Maura informed Vince as she headed towards the elevator that would take her downstairs to her morgue, "you look a little flushed. You may have a low-grade fever. If I felt like you look, I might have just elected to stay in bed all day." As, in fact, she had suggested to Jane just about an hour and a half ago. "Mi Cocina sounds delicious, Jane. I'll meet you here after I finish my day's work."

Chuckling, Jane made her way back to her desk, a swagger in her step. "I'll be here."

* * *

><p>Dinner was lovely. Jane made reservations; she had requested a corner table. It had been a stroke of unintended brilliance. As soon as the two had entered the establishment, there were very few patrons whose eyes did not follow the handsome couple as they walked by. <em>They'd be staring at us all night if I hadn't had them put us out of sight. I just wanted private time with Maura, <em>_but__jeez__._

Dessert was dulce de leche cheesecake, which they shared. "You take the first bite," Jane offered as soon as the server left the table.

Maura looked like she might comply, but then once she'd cut that slender tip from the slice with her fork, held it out to Jane instead. "I want to see the way it tastes," she explained _sotto voce_ when Jane gave her a look. "I want to see it on your face. Show me how sweet it is, Jane."

Jane flushed but submitted to the request, leaning forward to take the offered bite. Her eyes locked with the doctor's as she slowly wrapped her lips around the piece of cake and gradually pulled back, leaving the fork clean. Eyeslashes lowering, she deliberately licked her lips, letting a smirk play at the corner of her mouth. "It's good," she replied, her voice huskier than normal. Glancing down, she cut a piece and held it up, eyes sparkling in the soft light. "You should try it."

"I don't mind if I do," Maura replied, but barely noticed the fork enough to nudge it out of the way with her hand. She leaned in to steal a kiss instead, starting with a tiny spot of cheesecake that Jane had missed at the corner of her mouth. "You're right," she said, nearly as raspy as Jane's usual timbre, "that _is_ good. Very... creamy." She sat back, then, and guided Jane's fork to her mouth for a proper bite that she could actually swallow this time. "And that's almost as good."

_Oh. My. Gawd. _Eyes wide, breath catching, face flushed, Jane allowed her hand to rest on the table, unable to do anything else with it. _She's trying to kill me. I'm going to implode._ She took in a shaking breath and cleared her throat. "You're evil. You know that?"

"No," Maura argued gently, but with a smile that was slightly too innocent, even for her, "I'm not evil. Evil would be if I fed you a bite of this cheesecake with my fingers. Or told you how I avoided panty lines under my dress. Or," the mocking tone left her voice as she turned it into a throaty whisper, "if I took my hand off the napkin in my lap and put it on your thigh. Are you ticklish, Jane?"

"Normally, no," Jane answered carefully, "but, right now, no idea." She was fidgeting again, her leg bouncing under the table as her face flashed with something very similar to the classic deer-in-headlights look she often mocked others for. _She doesn't have a panty line right now, and she's in a dress. Oh, God, she's not wearing any underwear. _The dark haired brunette licked her lips, mouth suddenly dry.

Maura's hand did move, but not towards Jane's lap. Instead, she drew it up towards the pendant on her necklace and toyed with that with one finger, sometimes two. Her eyes were focused on Jane's lips, and her smile - smiles like that should be illegal. How in the world had the quality of those smiles escaped Jane for as long as it had? She had tried to be so obvious. But at least now, she knew, Jane understood exactly what those smiles meant. _I want you. I know we're going to enjoy one another. Say the word__ and__ I'm yours.__ Any time. Any place._ The next time a waiter passed by, she flagged him down, still smiling that smile and watching the woman that she could scarcely believe finally wanted her back. "Check, please."

* * *

><p>The cursing Jane was doing was only outdone by the constant reminders by Maura to keep her language in check. As soon as they left the restaurant, Jane's phone had gone off. It was her mother. Her younger brother, Tommy, was in trouble again, and Angela had begged Jane to come help the family. Though angry and frustrated for various reasons, Jane had agreed.<p>

"I'm sorry, Maura. I'm going to drop you off at your place. I really don't want you involved in this, and I don't know how late I'll be." Her jaw flexed as her hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I promise I'll make this up to you somehow." She sighed. "But I have to be with the family for the rest of tonight." She frowned deeply, clearly unhappy with the turn of events.

At the next stop light, Maura turned in her seat and lay a calming hand on Jane's cheek. "It's okay. A little... a _lot _frustrating, but I love how much you and your family care about each other. Go and be with them. I'll be all the more eager to see you tomorrow. Maybe it's better this way; we'll both sleep a little more than we otherwise might."

Jane leaned into the touch. "You will. I won't. It'll probably be an all-nighter for me, so I'm sorry ahead of time if I'm a super bitchy tomorrow." _Suck! Suck, suck, suck, such, suck… freaking sucks. God this sucks. Hate Tommy right now… SO much._ "Thanks for being understanding. I love that you're like that." The light changed, and Jane hit the gas gently. "Tomorrow night, I'm going to be worthless. I can already see it coming."

"Then we'll go to bed extra early," Maura promised, "right after dinner." She smiled at the thought, barely realizing she was making quite an assumption as to where Jane would be spending the following night. Some of her favorite times with Jane, even before their mutual attraction had been brought to light, were the times when they were falling asleep and waking up together.

"That sounds good," the car came to a halt in front of Maura's house. _ I'd rather go to bed with you tonight. That sounds dirty and it's just in my head. Whatever. I probably mean it both ways anyway. I'm starting to not even care anymore. _"It'll give me something to look forward to." She gave a semi-sad smile. "Have a good night, Maura. Sleep well."

Maura waited for Jane to set the car in park, then leaned in for a good night kiss. "Mm. I will. If you need me, Jane, call, okay? I don't know what I could do, but if the family need anything I can do, don't deprive me of a chance to help. Or if you just need someone nearby to support you."

_Could she __**be**__ any more __perfect__? _"Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

Thursday was unpleasant for anyone within a 5 foot radius of Jane Rizzoli. Tired from her long night, cranky that Tommy had ruined a perfectly good date, and frustrated for at least four different reasons and in four different ways, she was not a person to be trifled with. By the time lunch rolled around, no one even looked at her. By the end of the day, she had finally had enough of being cranky around the other detectives.

"Going downstairs." She didn't wait for a response, not that anyone would have stopped her at that point. _Need to see Maura. Haven't seen her all day. Need to see her. Touch her. Talk to her. Be with her._ The thoughts kept rolling through her mind as the elevator whisked her down to the morgue. _I hope she's not busy._

Walking into the brightly light area, Jane looked around for the medical examiner. "Maura?" Her voice was tired with just a hint of sadness as she called out for the doctor. _Where? Where is she? God, if she's not here, I don't know what I'm going to do._ "Maura? Are you around?"

She wasn't, but it was not long before Maura came out of the trace evidence, carrying and reading a clipboard, lab coat fluttering. She spotted Jane first and smiled. Then frowned. "What's wrong, lo-... Jane?"

It was as close to tears as Jane Rizzoli ever came, and she found she wasn't even ashamed they were there. "Maur, I thought you were gone." The detective rolled her eyes upward to stop any tears before they came. "Sorry, I'm just… tired. You're right. It was a long night." She sniffed. _I just want to curl up with my head in her lap and sleep. That's all I want. I just want to be somewhere peaceful with her._ "Anyway," she waved her hand in the air as if to brush off some unseen item floating there. "I came down to see if you wanted to get grab some sushi."

Hazel eyes widened. "Sushi?" she repeated. She'd been trying to coax Jane into trying raw fish and seaweed for months, but Jane persisted in referring to it as bait. _She must really need me tonight, if she's willing to do this for me._ "All right. Anything you like, as long as we can eat it at my place, with Joe and Bass. In fact, why don't we go now?" She set down the clipboard on her desk; it would still be there in the morning. "Let me take you home, Jane. You look like you feel awful." She wanted so much to wrap her girlfriend in her arms, cradle her against her heart, kiss her temple, give her comfort. She couldn't, not here. "Let me take care of you."

Jane nodded. "Okay." Her voice was small. "Will you drive? I just… I just want to go home." _I just want to spend some time with you._ "Is that okay?"

Maura nodded, her face a study in compassion as she slipped out of her lab coat and hung it on the coat stand near her desk. She walked back towards the lab to call out, "I'm out for the night. Carry on." Then she trotted back to Jane's side and slipped an arm around the detective's waist. "Come on, baby, let's go home."

* * *

><p>Once they'd stopped off at Jane's to pick up Joe Friday and some clothes, Maura drove them both back to her place. "Why don't you get a quickie shower and then draw a deep, hot bubble bath?" she suggested. "I'll take Joe for a walk, then go pick up some sushi and bring it back here for you. Don't fall asleep in the bathtub, though, promise me. If you think that might be a problem, stick with the shower and just have a lie-down, and I'll be your bathtub lifeguard when I get back."<p>

"K," no fight left in her, Jane headed for the guest bath to shower. _I don't want a bath. I want to lay down on the couch, and I want Maura to pet my head. _ Looking at herself in the mirror after her shower, she stared as if seeing herself for the first time. _When did I get this needy? I'm never this needy._ She brushed her teeth as her mind raced through the past couple of weeks. _I don't like this needy thing. But, I can't stop myself. What is __**up**__ with that? Maura makes me feel… something. What?_

By the time she left the bathroom, dressed in a tank top and shorts, Maura was gone. She opened the fridge to grab a beer, but stopped short. It wasn't that her beer of choice wasn't in there. It was. It was always there despite the fact Maura didn't care for beer. It was the fact that it was there. _She's been taking care of me for really long time. How did I miss that?_

Not bothering with the beer, Jane shuffled to the sofa and laid down, curling her legs up and propping her head on one arm while the other rested on her side. _I hope she comes back soon. TV? No… no tv. I like the quiet. It's peaceful. Maura's place is always so peaceful._

* * *

><p>Maura didn't want to leave Jane alone, not looking as dejected and worn down as she did, but there was little choice. "Maybe all she needs is a little downtime," she told Joe Friday as they walked through the neighborhood. "What do you think, Joe? Just a little alone time, with no noise and no phones and nobody asking her for anything. Yeah, that sounds good to me, too." Joe wasn't paying much attention to the talk, this time. She was too busy claiming ownership of a patch of dandelion in someone's yard. Maura glanced away, giving the dog a little privacy. "She looks so tired. I wonder what happened with your Uncle Tommy last night. She didn't come by. Did she tell you?" Joe gave a little snort, which Maura interpreted (possibly incorrectly, but Joe refused to elaborate) as meaning that, as usual, Jane had kept her own counsel rather than sharing details with anyone, including Joe Friday. "No, I didn't think so. She prefers to shut things away until she's ready to bring them out for a look."<p>

They rounded the corner and headed down a street with a shadier sidewalk and a couple of benches here and there. Maura waved to various neighbors; the ones who didn't know what she did for a living tended to smile and wave back. "New dog?" one rather fit man asked her as he slowed his jog. She had watched him run in the mornings, and sometimes they ran together when Jane was being recalcitrant about training. "She belongs to my friend," Maura replied, and the man jogged on. _Well, I won't be sleeping with him_, she thought as she watched him. _Oh, well. I doubt he'd be very good for me, anyway. Too hairy, even if I didn't have Jane in my life now._Still, the thought caught her up short. If she had her way, she would never be on the lookout for another lover. If she had her way, neither would Jane. What would that be like, never to experience the first spark of interest again, the first kiss, the first blush of passion? Would they get bored of one another? Would they need to resort to odd gimmicks to keep their sex life interesting?

Or would they - and here, her heart quickened - would they become even closer emotionally than they were now, once there were no more physical boundaries they hadn't crossed? Would they find that even after years, there were still discoveries for them to make with each other? Would they find little ways of reminding one another that they were still paying attention, still interested, even after they knew exactly what to do for one another, and how? _I'd like to be with her long enough to find out about that,_ Maura realized. _I'd like to compare young, hot, gorgeous Jane with elderly, wise... still hot Jane._

_Shut up,_ she suddenly chided herself, suppressing a giggle that no one watching her would understand. _We've never made love, we've never made promises, and here I am, already enjoying our golden years. This isn't a commitment, not yet. Not on her part._ Even so, her tiny, private smile was identifiable by those passing by her, greeting and not being noticed, as that of a woman in love. She, at least, was already committed. She'd heard Korsak telling Frost once about the different levels of relationships, likening them to the ingredients on the breakfast plate. _"The eggs,_" he had said, _"come from the chicken. The chicken is interested. The bacon comes from a pig. The pig is committed."_ Maura thought again about watching Jane's hair turn silver, her face grow lined. _She'll still be hot to me. I hope I'll be hot to her, too._"I'm the pig," Maura informed Joe Friday, and again, there came that smile.

When their walk was over, Maura loaded Joe Friday into her car; there was a doggie carrier in the back seat now. The two of them went to her favorite sushi place, placed an order, then went out for a walk around the restaurant grounds while waiting for it to get done. By the time they got back to the house with Japanese beer and sushi - about half with tempura fish and vegetables, just in case Jane became intimidated again by the idea of eating raw fish - they had been gone for nearly an hour and a half. Maura set down the bag from the restaurant, then released Joe Friday from her leash to go bounding through the house and say hello to Maura's African spurred tortoise, Bass. Bass would be getting fresh vegetables which she had chopped that morning, while Joe... Ah, Jane had already filled that particular little bowl. Good.

There was time now for her to get a shower. She took her sweet time at it, making it one of her half-hour sybaritic luxury showers. Jane had seemed exhausted and beaten today. She was fine, herself, but felt the need for a little pampering anyway. Clean and softened with the hot water, lotioned, hair dried but not fixed, she pulled on one of her favorite sets of loungewear, silky Chinese pajama bottoms and camisole, both black, along with soft slippers. Now prepared for a good, long night of relaxation, the honey-haired woman betook herself back to the kitchen.

She fed Bass his vegetables, wash her hands, and pick out a platter on which to arrange the sushi. Once all was ready, she carried it into the living room. "Jane, sweetie, are you asleep? Wake up." Her voice was soft, so that Jane would not be startled. "I brought you dinner."

"Fish bait?" Jane asked quietly as she sat up, attempting – and failing – to give her best teasing smile. "You know," she said and she leaned her elbows on her knees, "I've actually had sushi before. I eat it about once a month. I just like to give you a hard time." She winked, leaned over to place a gentle kiss on the doctor's cheek, and grabbed a set of chopsticks. "Don't look at me like that. I never told you I'd never had sushi before. You just assumed because I called it bait and made faces." She glanced over the plate sitting on the coffee table. "Is that a spicy tuna roll?"

Maura's mouth dropped open in delighted surprise. "You never stop surprising me, Jane." _And I'd bet my inheritance that you never will._ "Um. Yes, that's spicy tuna, and this is a dragon roll. The rest are fresh salmon nigirizushi, and various tempura vegetables." She then sat down and leaned in, reaching forward to pick up a piece for herself. With her fingers.

"Good. I hope I keep it that way." Ignoring Joe's pleading whines for food, Jane picked a roll up with her chopsticks and popped in her mouth as she watching Maura eat the food with her fingers. _Fingers huh?_ She shook her head, chuckling. "This is good, Maur. We should go to this place together sometime."

Some of the coquettishness appeared, the flirting that Maura had always done with Jane, in the slant of her shoulders and tilt of her head. If she'd done it with everyone else, or even _anyone_ else, maybe it could have just been put down to her slightly off-center understanding of social cues. But she'd only ever given that look, that stance, to Jane. It was her come-hither look. What was more, she'd spotted a social cue herself, written subtly but large in Jane's features, and answered the question that had not been asked aloud. "I can use chopsticks very well, Jane, and I'm impressed that you can, too, even though I already knew it because of our Chinese food experiences. But sushi was first conceived as a finger food several centuries ago. There's something so beautifully simple about it - rice, raw fish, and seaweed - that I think the simpler, more traditional way is often preferable." She was about to stop, but then moved on with a hint of mischief. "I also don't see a reason to use appliances or utensils when all I really need are my hands."

Jane chocked on her tuna roll. "Yeah... you... hands, right." _She's killing me here._ Placing her chopsticks on the platter, she ran her hands over her face. "Okay, you have to not do that when I'm tired. You're going to make me choke to death one of these days."

"I'm sorry, Jane," Maura replied. "That was unfair of me." In a nearly unprecedented move, she actually played nice for the rest of the meal. Jane really was too tired for these games, or at least, too drained. She opened Jane a Japanese beer and even joined her by drinking the other one. By design, she steered the conversation to light topics so that Jane could continue to decompress easily, without pressure even in the form of hints.

Jane sighed, looking at the plate. "Are you going to eat that last piece of the dragon roll?"

"All yours. Here." Picking up the colorful piece, Maura brought it to her open lips, but at the last moment offered it instead to Jane. This time it wasn't like the cheesecake in the restaurant, a visual and kinesthetic euphemism for a sexual offering. It was just food, just nourishment, just nurturing.

After swallowing, Jane gave a weak smile. "Thanks." She stood, reaching for the plate on her way. "Let me help clean up. I'll feel like a heel if I don't do something." She bent, kissing Maura gently. "Thank you for letting me have a peaceful night."

Maura accepted the kiss and returned one for it in even exchange, without attempt at escalation. "Let me do this," she suggested instead, "and you go warm up the bed. There's just the one platter and one pair of chopsticks to clear away." She whisked them away, along with the two empty beer bottles, and headed for the kitchen.

"Okay, but I take care of dinner tomorrow," with a gentle smile on her face, Jane headed to the bed.

Moments later, as the dishwasher quietly churned away with the remains of a few days' worth of meals, Maura entered her - their - bedroom, turned off the nightstand light left on for her, and lay down beside her girlfriend.

"Maur," Jane rolled over, wrapping herself around the small frame beside her, "you're amazing. I just wanted you to know." She nuzzled in closer. "I wanted you to know that, and," she exhaled as if releasing a breath she had been holding since the last time she saw her girlfriend, "I'm really glad you found me." She placed a kiss on the exposed skin by her lips. "You're my safe place. That's what I was trying to figure out when you were gone." She yawned. "I just wanted you to know."


	5. Chapter 5

That zen alarm clock was a beautiful thing, waking a person gently and gradually instead of immediately with loud klaxons or Top 40 hits. It started with a tiny amount of light and the softest noise of breezes, and in a process that took about an hour, those breezes transformed into raindrops, ocean waves, birdsong, whalesong, even the purring of Great Cats recorded in the wild, all on randomizers so that each morning one was soothed awake in a different way.

Maura had trained herself to respond when the noises were still very soft, unless she was very tired or ill. Friday morning, though the clock would not be at full volume until six o'clock, Maura awakened at a little before five-thirty with a relaxed, sleep-softened smile. Her eyes did not open right away, though. Instead she allowed her senses to come back one by one from what some philosophers termed one-seventieth of death. She inhaled only slightly more deeply than she did when in full sleep, and smelled the unique scent that she associated with the things she loved best: comfort, excitement, safety, bravery. Jane. Her head rose and fell, and with that movement she knew that it rested upon the breast of the woman she loved; at the same time, she recognized the familiar scarred hand that held hers, fingers laced through hers, palm to palm.

It couldn't last. She knew she had to get up, get dressed. She wanted to get in and out of the bathroom before Jane needed it, lest there be teasing about how long it took Miss High Maintenance to do her hair. _Just a few more minutes to hold her,_ she promised herself, _and then I swear I'll get up._ It was a quarter till six before she kept that promise, and thus she didn't finish with her teeth, face, and hair until almost six-ten. She rushed as quietly as possible back to the bedroom, hoping Jane was not yet awake to tease her. Hoping even more that Jane could still be nuzzled awake.

* * *

><p>The sound of waves lightly crashing against the beach filled the room, covering the sound of Jane's deep breathing as she continued to sleep peacefully in the center of large bed. Pillows on one side, blankets on the other, Jane had once again managed to create a nest around her, much as she had when she was ill with food poisoning.<p>

Maura paused in the doorway, smiling in her onrush of affection. _She is adorable._ Not only could she see the ghost of the child Jane must have been, cuddled up in her nest, but she could also see the puppy that Joe Friday must have been, asleep atop the pile of pillows nearest Jane's head. One hand pressed to her heart, which suddenly ached for every day that she had lived without seeing this woman sleeping in her bed, beneath the painting of the sliced-open plum, both the thick layers of paint and the delicate olive skin below giving lift to the shafts of sunlight which pierced the tree outside her window. _Give me this, every day, for the rest of our lives._ Very softly, Maura snuck back to the bedside and removed pillows, slowly and carefully, until she could replace the stack with herself, still clad in her camisole and pajama bottoms.

Jane let out a soft whimper as her nest was disturbed. In her sleep, she reached out trying to capture the pillows back to rebuild it.

Maura obliged, not by returning the pillows, but by offering her own body as their substitute. She did not speak at all, but let her hands, her arms, do the talking for her. _Hush. You're safe. I've got you._

The brunette happily accepted, her head finding its way into Maura's lap as she hummed in contentment at the feel of the other woman's supportive arms and gentle hands petting her. "Hi." Her voice was husky with sleep and quiet with a serenity that rarely happened with the detective.

Maura leaned back against the headboard, one arm down to rest her hand along Jane's back while the other stroked and petted her head, pushing dark hair out of the chiseled face. "Good morning."

"Thanks for letting me sleep in." Jane sighed, rolling onto her back but keeping her head where it was. "You look beautiful." She chuckled. "You always look beautiful, though." She stretched her arms above her head. "This is nice, waking up like this." Smiling, she slowly sat up.

"So do you." Maura waited until the stretch was over and Jane was sitting up, before she leaned in and hugged her tightly, gently, but with as much enthusiasm as she had shown in the endorphin rush of finishing the marathon with her. "Do you know what's also nice? Knowing that in a few hours, we'll be off for the entire weekend."

"Mmmm... that _is_ nice. I can't wait to get you home tonight. I have plans." Jane leaned back for a few moments to indulge before pulling away. "I'm going to go take a shower, okay?"

Maura sat back without a word, letting Jane go shower. _Plans?_ her mind repeated, until she caught sight of herself in the mirror and realized her mouth was hanging open. Quickly she snapped it shut, giggled at the speed at which Jane had reduced her to a single loop of thought - well, fantasy, if she was being honest - and got up to dress. _Jil Sander today, I think,_ she mused while perusing her closet, _or maybe Chanel. Chanel, with the shoes I had made for me in Germany,__ and__ the La Perla __underthings that I just bought__... No, I'll save La Perla for the weekend. Victoria's Secret will be fine for the work day. Perfume? No, too strong. I think I'll go without scent today._Nothing, she had learned in college, was worse than licking someone's neck and tasting cologne, perfume, or aftershave. Besides, clean skin held its own intoxicating fragrance, and that was what she would want Jane to inhale and taste, if they managed to find the time and privacy before the work day ended.

Once dressed, Maura headed for the kitchen, where she prepared the first meal of the day for four. Bass, predictable creature that he was, waited right by his bowl, while Joe Friday had to bounce in from the bedroom, tags all a-jingle. "Here you go, sweeties. Spinach-apple salad for Bass, Doctors Foster & Smith for Joe. Joe, you'll have your walk in just a bit, okay? I think Jane will probably take you while I make the bed and get our breakfasts together."

"It's cute the way you talk to our kids," Jane teased as she walked into the kitchen. "I'm pretty sure they have no idea what you're saying, but I know for a fact that Joe likes your place better than Ma and Pop's. Don't tell them, though. Ma's pretty sure Joe is as close to a grandchild as she's going to get with me." The detective bent down to scratch behind the little dog's ear before standing up to kiss her girlfriend. "After I walk Joe, can we go grab a cup of coffee and a quiche to share at that French bistro down the block? My treat."

_Our kids? Well, I suppose she's right. Smaller creatures who look to us for their comfort and sustenance. _Maura leaned in, slipping her arms around her girlfriend's waist and holding on for a moment longer than the kiss lasted. "Let's walk Joe together and take our quiche at the outdoor table so she can be with us. I'd like my neighbors to get used to seeing us together, so that if you ever need their help, they'll recognize you as belonging here."

_Belonging here, huh?_ "Sounds good." Eyes running over the doctor's face for a moment, Jane tilted her head to the side. "You want to make sure everyone knows I belong with you?" She raised an eyebrow. "I think they already do." With a kiss and a chuckle, she pulled away to put the leash on Joe.

Exchanging her house slippers for low flats, Maura followed Jane out the door, grabbing her house keys along the way.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading. We hope you're enjoying the series. As always, your reviews are greatly loved and appreciated.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

The "A Little" series in order:

A Little Unwell  
>A Little Better<br>A Little More  
>A Little Downtime<br>A Little Peace  
>A Little Diversion<br>A Little Panic  
>A Little Family<br>A Little Closure


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